The Daily - January 29, 2020 - 65

S P O N S O R E D CO N T E N T

An Epic
Environmental
Promise

Vail Resorts plans to have zero net operating
impact by 2030. Here's how. By Tracy Ross
IN 2017, VAIL RESORTS ANNOUNCED

a pledge to reach a zero net operating
footprint across all its resorts by 2030
by focusing on three pillars: zero net
emissions, zero waste to landﬁll, and
zero net operating impact on forests and
habitat. In the two years since, the goal
has become an integral part of the company's mission, as Vail Resorts works to
incorporate sustainability into the very
fabric of its operations across 37 resorts
worldwide. Read on to learn about
the challenges, successes, and lessons
learned from the company's Commitment to Zero pledge in this interview
with Kate Swayne Wilson, senior director of sustainability at Vail Resorts.

FROM TOP: COURTESY VAIL RESORTS, JON RESNICK

Where did the idea for Commitment to Zero come from
and why?
As a company that's rooted in the
outdoors, it's always been incredibly
important to us that we preserve and
protect our environment. Since 2006,
we've been setting and hitting energy-reduction goals-such as making
all our buildings LEED certiﬁed-and
as we continued to hit various goals
we went to our CEO, Rob Katz, and
said, "What about striving for 20 per-

cent, 30 percent...even 50 percent in
emissions reduction?" Rob responded:
"Could we do 100 percent?" It's been
a really amazing recipe for success as it
has pushed us to think bigger and ﬁnd
new ways to have a meaningful impact
on climate change.
What successes have you had
so far and what has been the
biggest lesson you've learned?
Over the last two seasons, we've
invested $5 million to switch to
LED lighting and upgrade our
snowmaking operations across our
resorts, among other projects. These
upgrades have put Vail Resorts 25
percent toward our energy-efficiency goal. We've also learned a lot
about how to eliminate single-use
conventional plastics through our
partnership with Eco-Products. But
perhaps the biggest lesson learned
is that success really requires full
buy-in and participation across
the company and throughout our
communities. At Vail Resorts, we're
lucky that every person-from our
executive team to our frontline
employees-cares about making
Commitment to Zero a success.

Kate Swayne
Wilson

What's the biggest challenge of
Commitment to Zero?
The hardest pillar is deﬁnitely zero
waste to landﬁ ll. Think about a skier
throwing away a banana peel at the
top of Vail Mountain, for example. So
many people have to be involved to
dispose of that banana peel properly. It
takes an amazing amount of eﬀort and
behavioral change. But we're tackling
this by shifting the responsibility of
waste sorting from guests to employees, by increasing our signage (telling
customers why we're doing it), and by
working with diﬀerent partners at different resorts to make sure the waste
gets to the right disposal facility.
What are you most excited for
in 2020?
Our goal is getting to 50 percent
waste diversion. Last season, by

recycling and composting, we diverted more than 11 million pounds
of waste from the landfill. Those
efforts allowed us to achieve 44
percent waste diversion-coming in
seven percentage points ahead of the
previous year. So we're close! We're
also very excited that the wind farm
we're helping to bring online will
go live this year, which will address
almost 100 percent of our North
American electricity use and create
enough new wind energy to power
nearly 30,000 homes.
How can the outdoor industry
have a collective impact on
tackling climate change?
By working together to ﬁ nd bold solutions. We're thrilled to be a part of the
industry's Outdoor Business Climate
Partnership and believe our collective
voice will have the most impact.

For more on Vail Resorts'
Commitment to Zero and to
see its annual progress report,
visit EpicPromise.com.
Beaver Creek
http://www.EpicPromise.com http://www.EpicPromise.com
The Daily - January 29, 2020

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